Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Norman Lamb and Lord Walney

Tuesday 25th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Norman Lamb]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right about the importance of early interventions. Next year, we are introducing for the first time a six-week maximum waiting time standard for access to psychological therapies to start treatment for conditions such as anxiety and depression, and a two-week standard for starting treatment for those suffering a first episode of psychosis. I am also calling on every FTSE 100 company to sign up to Time to Change, so that they can show leadership in how they deal with their employees.

[John Woodcock (Barrow and Furness) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is one thing to say it, but completely another to do it. I am sure that the whole House will recognise improvements that happen, but does the Minister understand the scale of the crisis, not simply in the NHS but in the education system where more and more young people are increasingly finding that they simply cannot get anything like the support they need at increasingly difficult points in their lives?

Health and Social Care

Debate between Norman Lamb and Lord Walney

Monday 13th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[John Woodcock]

That is a good point, and it remains to be seen. We hope so, but the system has yet to be put to the test.

I am disappointed that no move towards genuine localism was outlined in the Gracious Speech. It is time for a people’s NHS Bill to end the toothless sham that too often passes for local consultation. When local people say no, the default should be that they have exercised a veto that ought to be heeded. That would require a step change in our NHS away from a model that, yes, might have helped deliver improvements in health outcomes of which the country should be proud, but which has done so—

[Norman Lamb]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[John Woodcock]

I will give way, if the Minister is quick, because I do not have much time left.

[Norman Lamb]

I am interested in what the hon. Gentleman is saying, and I accept the point about the importance of accountability. [Interruption.] He has just realised that he has got an extra minute of time, so I have done him a favour. Does he accept, however, that the old NHS, which we reformed, had no local accountability at all and that we have introduced some accountability through the health and wellbeing boards, bringing together local authorities and the NHS?

[John Woodcock]

It is an interesting point. I am not claiming that the system operating now is fundamentally different from that of three years ago, but around the country people who were promised a say in local decisions have been devastated to find out that they have none. Unquestionably, what has been put in place is not adequate. It is a sop to localism that does not do what it says. It would be a step change to move away from the current model.

Following the current model has meant alienating many local people who understood the trade-offs, but nevertheless fervently desired to keep services local. Whatever happens, surely the current tension between national planning and local unrest is unsustainable in the long term. In opposition, the Conservative party told the public that it understood that and pledged to end local hospital service closures, but of course its promises turned out to be a cheap election con trick. Instead, Ministers have forced through an expensive, chaotic and divisive health reform package that ultimately has pushed NHS decision making still further from the people it serves. We need a change of direction. Local communities pay for the health service they receive, and they deserve to be treated with greater respect.